Australia’s biggest wind turbine erected at what will be largest wind farm in NSW

The first 6MW wind turbine in Australia, the largest in the country to date, has been installed at what will be the biggest wind farm in the state of New South Wales.

The Vestas V162 6.0MW machine has a tip height of 200 metres, and is the first of 66 such machines to be installed at the 396MW Rye Park Wind Farm north of Yass. This first turbine was erected on January 19, some 12 months after the start of construction.

The Rye Park wind project is being built by Tilt Renewables and is supported by a foundation off-take agreement with Newcrest Mining and its Cadia gold and copper mine near Orange.

Tilt says that, so far, 38 of the 66 wind turbine foundations have been poured and the delivery of wind turbine components are ongoing, although progress has been hampered by bad weather in 2022. About 250 people are employed in the construction phase.

“Rye Park is a landmark project in NSW,” says Tom Villiers, the head of delivery for Tilt Renewables.

“This is a fantastic milestone for the project, the culmination of lot of hard work by the team and our delivery partners – Zenviron, Vestas and Lumea, overcoming exceptional wet weather and setbacks through 2022.

“I would like to thank our partners on the project and the local community for their ongoing support through construction.”